Saudi displays Sri Lankan bodies to deter crime

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia has put the bodies of four Sri Lankans beheaded in Riyadh on display in public in an effort to deter a rising crime wave by foreigners, Saudi media reported on Tuesday.

International rights groups have often accused the conservative kingdom, a key U.S. ally, of applying draconian and arbitrary justice, beheading murderers, rapists and drug traffickers in public by the sword.

The desert kingdom, which is home to Islam’s holiest shrines, says it applies strict Islamic law.

The Sri Lankan gang were executed on Monday at a public square in a busy market district of the city of four million.

Saudi media said that although no one was killed in the series of robberies they were convicted of, the four men were given the death sentence due to the organised nature of the violent hold-ups, raising fears of foreign mafias.

Riyadh, Tuesday, Reuters